CRYOPRESERVATION OF REPRODUCTIVE CELLS OF FISH: THE DEVELOPMENT OF RESEARCHERS OF SOUTH OF RUSSIA  

Aleksandra A. Krasilnikova*, Elena N. Ponomareva, Andrey M. Tikhomirov,  Angelina V. Firsova
 
Southern Scientific Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences,
41 Chekhov Street, 344006, Rostov-on-Don, Russia
e-mail: alexandra.kras@yandex.ru  

Since 2004 the staff of the Southern Scientific Center, Russian Academy of Sciences jointly with the Astrakhan State Technical University are conducting research on low-temperature preservation and long-term storage of genetic material of valuable fish species.

The aim of the work is development of technology for cryopreservation and storage of reproductive cells of fish, in order to ensure their structural and functional integrity, as well as the development of techniques of using frozen material in aquaculture.

Received 3 patents for invention:

- «Method of increase the survival rate of sexual cells of sturgeons during the cryopreservation»

- «Method for reducing low-temperature jump cryoprotectant solutions»

-  «Method of cryopreservation of fish egg».

Know-how (trade secrets): «Methods of removing a cryoprotectant from sperm defrosting fish».

Work was done to produce offspring and determining the physiological usefulness of juveniles produced using cryopreserved semen. Fish obtained using defrost sperm had the best survival rate, growth rate, fertility, physiological and biochemical characteristics, compared with the traditional methods, due to the selective action of low temperature of liquid nitrogen.

Years of research to develop methods of cryopreservation of eggs of fishes of the South of Russia, allowed to pick up a new cryoprotectant, the basic component of which is a mixture of unrefined vegetable and animal oils containing linoleic, linolenic acids and phosphatides, which is a glycerol esters of fatty acids and a substituted phosphoric acid.

For several years in Southern Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences jointly with the Astrakhan State Technical University, work is underway on the creation of the Cryobank. The basis of his activities laid the accumulation, conservation and use of genetic material for the shortfall of manufacturers and the correction of existing technologies of artificial reproduction of rare and endangered fish species of the Volga-Caspian and Azov-Black seas basins.